What are the primary workforce problems in health care right now in Michigan?
Lack of planning. And I think the planning methods have got to change. We can’t say in Michigan that we need this many more nurses, it’s where do you need them. Because there are plenty of nurses in some places and in others there aren’t. So we need to do some regional planning, we need to be much more assertive about retaining the people we do educate. Now a lot of our students are moving out of state. We’ve heard the brain drain phenomenon from everywhere. Health professions is no exception to that. Where are you seeing nursing shortages and where are the gluts? Physician shortages are everywhere, and they’re in both primary care and specialties. They’re all over the state, particularly in rural areas it’s very difficult, and in inner cities it’s very difficult. There’s shortages in nursing all over Southeast Michigan, pretty much most of the cities. Although now there’s been a bit of a speed bump in the last year or two with Michigan’s very difficult economic climate, hospital censu
